PC Upgrades: Quality & Performance at a low price point

[Jeb]

I've read on the forum of some people needing to upgrade their systems, and, like me, not having much cash to do so.

 

I'm personally running an older system: 32-bit AMD 3000+ as well as nVidia 6600GT 128MB AGP 8x (now upgraded).

 

Like most here, I have other priorities for my hard earned cash, and can't justify upgrading my system entirely.

 

I made to basic upgrades recently that have greatly extended the life of my aging system. The first being RAM and the second a new video card.

 

If I'm not mistaken, Win XP 32-bit can only really utilize up to 2GB ram properly. I've recently upgraded my system to 2GB which has helped a lot and the difference between 1GB and 2GB is quite noticeable in some applications. It cost about $89 for 2 1GB sticks of DDR 400.

 

My second upgrade was a new video card. HIS makes an ATI x1950 PRO 265MB AGP 8x video card. This card is about $170:

 

HIS Hightech H195PRQT256DDAN-R-V2 Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail

 

I put this card in my system and was blown away. This card is about 3x faster than my old 6600GT and runs games at a comparable fps as the PCI x1950PRO version.

 

This is an overall games fps chart from Tom's Hardware showing the boost in fps from my old card to the new one, shown in blue:

 

Tom's Hardware FPS 6600GT vs x1950PRO

 

When I can actually find the time, I've been able to play the latest games without problems on some of the highest video settings and resolutions. Something thing to note is that the card does get hot and requires good airflow. My Lian Li case with 4 90 mm fans is now a permanently open case in order to allow enough airflow. The card is is also long and requires 2 power plugs.

 

I hope this is helpful.

[sparhawk]

XP can only use up to 2GB? Dissaspointing. I was planning to buy 4GB for my next machine, but I certainly don't intend to run Vista anytime soon, or ever if I can avoid it.

[Jeb]

Not to lead anyone astray, the theoretical RAM limit in XP and Vista for a 32-bit system is 4GB. However, a 32-bit system can only "utilize" around 2GB. The realistic maximum is around 2.5GB to 3.5GB.

 

There are a lot of articles out there on this. Here is one example: 32-bit Vista Memory Limits (applies to XP as well)

[squill]

hey i recently did the same upgrade

 

I already had a Athlon64 3200+ CPU, 2 gig RAM and also a 6600 GT 128 MB. But after playing the Bioshock/Medal of Honor demo i thought about doing a last upgrade before i'd buy a new system.

 

bought the ATI X1950 GT 256 MB.. Initailly i searched for the X1950 Pro 512 MB version, because they are a bit faster (about 10%) but the sales guy told me they were out of stock and also hard to get.

 

But this card is fast enough to run Bioshock with high resolution/detail. Also Oblivion now runs beautifully with HDR. The cards are indeed big but it runs stable and fast

 

I also used this link while searching for X1950 reviews, it shows some test with older systems(3400+) and newer AGP cards. There's also part 1 with even an older configuration.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/01/agp...tform-analysis/

[Serpentine]

Hey,

 

Was just slapping together a spec for a friend - budget performance sort of thing.

 

Just realising some of the things that most guys dont think about these days, but if you do it can make a pretty big difference to performance later on.

 

People seem to think that more RAM is better all of the time. if you're looking at budget performance, more than 2gb is a complete waste. Most of the time you will end up with 4 DIMM's and the resultant lack of performance will no doubt cancel out any gains you would have got. This will change in the future, but specifically if you have an oldish rig, 4 DIMMs will eat about 5-10% performance. (I havent tested the latest Core2 mem controller, but the same should apply)

 

Graphics cards, ATi in the past has a waaaaaaaay better track record with aging. A lot of my friends that upgraded to 9800's back in the day are only upgrading now due to this, while my friends that bought 6800's a generation after the 9800's upgraded about a year ago. I dont mean to sound fanboyish, but the benches will show you whose cards stand the test of time. That said I dont really know how the 2900's are going to age, but I expect better than the 8800's.

 

Hmmm, and always check mid range gfx card performance... nV at the moment is ripping the world off with 8600's, while the far cheaper AMD card easily cleans it, some people still buy on price and brand :/

[sparhawk]

Well, I can only agree to that. I'm currently running a 9800XT and it now starts to show sign. I can still play most games, but I can already notice that there will be the time when I have to buy a new one. Nevertheless, I will still buy an Nvidia card though, because they are more supportive for Linux.

[jdude]

I don't understand, I thought the limit of XP was 4 Gigs of ram. Why did I get 3 for my system then? I'm running:

 

1.87ghz core2 duo [i think excellent for the price]

3 gigs ddr2 ram

x1950 pro 256 [i agree an awesome card for the price!!!]

 

I had 1 gig of ram and I noticed that in CS S I'd get stuttering if I ran it using high poly custom models. I upgraded to 3 gigs of ram and I get no stuttering at all now.

[Jeb]

I don't understand, I thought the limit of XP was 4 Gigs of ram. Why did I get 3 for my system then? I'm running:

 

1.87ghz core2 duo [i think excellent for the price]

3 gigs ddr2 ram

x1950 pro 256 [i agree an awesome card for the price!!!]

 

I had 1 gig of ram and I noticed that in CS S I'd get stuttering if I ran it using high poly custom models. I upgraded to 3 gigs of ram and I get no stuttering at all now.

 

64-bit processors, such as the Core2 Duo, can utilize much more ram, so long as your Windows OS is the 64-bit version as well.

 

You can use 3GB ram with a 32-bit processor, but you will not notice as much of a performance boost beyond 2GB of RAM. This is due to the limitiations of the 32-bit architecture and how the 32-bit Windows OS handles memory.

 

This Wikipedia article gives some explination on this, and Microsoft has a page dedicated to the Memory Limits for Windows Releases which are the theoretical limits for their operating systems.